Kaohsiung screens Kadeer documentary
　

VISIT: Two pro-independence groups have invited Uighur activist Rebiya Kadeer to Taiwan. The MAC said it would handle any visa application according to the law
　

By Flora Wang
STAFF REPORTER, WITH AGENCIES
Wednesday, Sep 23, 2009, Page 1
　

The Kaohsiung City Government yesterday went ahead with the first of two days of screenings of The 10 Conditions of Love, a documentary about exiled Uighur Muslim leader Rebiya Kadeer.

The city government decided on Saturday to show the film ahead of the Kaohsiung Film Festival, which starts on Oct. 16, after city tourism industry figures complained that the festival's plan to include the film had led to a series of hotel cancelations by Chinese tourists.

Kadeer is the president of the World Uighur Congress, which fights for the rights of the Uighur ethnic minority in China. She has been living in Washington since 2005, after China sent her into exile, and travels around the world to campaign for the Uighur cause.

China portrays her as a separatist and accused her of plotting the July 5 riots in Xinjiang's capital, Urumqi, a charge Kadeer has denied.

A worker at the library where the hour-long documentary was shown said all 115 seats were sold out, adding that there was stronger interest in the film than expected.

“Some 20 people have been waiting patiently since early this afternoon even though they were already told that all the seats have been booked,” the employee said.

The city government said on Monday that today's screening would move to a bigger venue, FE21 Mall's Vieshow Cinema, because of increased demand.

Outside the venue, an independence group condemned Beijing, saying it had pressured Kaohsiung authorities to alter their screening plan.

“Say no to Chinese hegemony, safeguard human rights!” and “Taiwan, China — one country [on] each side!” the demonstrators chanted while displaying a Uighur independence flag.

Two groups yesterday announced they had invited Kadeer and her husband to visit Taiwan.

“The invitation was issued by the Taiwan Youth Anti-Communist Corps and the youth group Guts United Taiwan,” said Paul Lin (林保華), a political commentator and director-general of the corps. “We talked with Kadeer and her husband on the phone yesterday, and they happily accepted the invitation.”

Freddy Lim (林昶佐) of Guts United Taiwan flew to Washington yesterday to deliver the invitation to Kadeer, Lin said.

“We hope Kadeer and her husband can arrive in mid-October in time for the Kaohsiung Film Festival, but we don't know if President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) will approve the visit,” Lin said.

Asked what would happen if Kadeer and her husband accepted the invitation, Mainland Affairs Council Chairwoman Lai Shin-yuan (賴幸媛) said yesterday the government would respect the law.

“Everything will be handled according to the law,” Lai told reporters, adding that ties between Taipei and Beijing were moving in the direction of peace and stability.

She said the development of cross-strait relations would not be affected by the screenings or the civic groups' plan to invite Kadeer to Taiwan.

Lai said on the legislative floor that the government had almost completed negotiations with Beijing on a financial memorandum of understanding.

DPP Legislator Chai Trong-rong (蔡同榮) also asked Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) if Kadeer would be issued a visa.

Wu replied that the government was still evaluating the case and would give its answer before the weekend.

Meanwhile, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus slammed the Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP) plan to screen the documentary around the country.

KMT caucus chief deputy ­secretary-general Lin Hung-chih (林鴻池) told a press conference that the DPP's move was “provocative.”

“The DPP headquarters has mentioned again and again its plan to screen the film around the nation and wanted to see how China would respond. Isn't this provocative?” Lin said.

Lin said the DPP's motive was “problematic” because the party was trying to capitalize politically on the screening.

KMT caucus secretary-general Lu Hsueh-chang (呂學樟) said the DPP's “political manipulation” of the recent visit of the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama and a possible visit by Kadeer had dealt a serious blow to the tourism business in southern Taiwan.

DPP spokesman Chao Tien-lin (趙天麟) said the party would have its officials screen the documentary in their own constituencies after the party obtains the film's copyright.

At a separate setting, DPP Legislator Chiu Yi-ying (邱議瑩) said China did not have the right to decide which films should be screened or banned in Taiwan.

“Under pressure from China, we cannot even decide what film to screen. We would like to ask Wu Den-yih and Ma where the freedom, democracy and human rights they have been talking about are,” Chiu said.

Young people mobilize against casinos
　

PLEBISCITE: Young activists said they were concerned about the possible impact on students’ values, the survival of local businesses, social stability and the environment
　

By Flora Wang
STAFF REPORTER
Wednesday, Sep 23, 2009, Page 3

A group of young people from Penghu County yesterday urged other residents of the archipelago working in Taiwan proper to return home and vote against gambling in an upcoming referendum on allowing corporations to establish casinos in Penghu.

At a press conference in Taipei, Liu Yu-ming (劉昱明), a student at National Taiwan University’s Graduate Institute of Law, warned that Penghu’s image and reputation as a natural paradise could be tarnished if residents voted “yes” in the referendum.

Describing the referendum as a “turning point in history,” Liu said residents of the islands were faced with the question of whether to embrace a luxurious lifestyle and give up their modest ways.

Liu said businesses in Penghu would suffer if casinos were allowed to operate there.

Hsueh Kuan-chung (薛貫中), a college graduate from Penghu living in Kaohsiung, said the establishment of casinos in Penghu would exacerbate the problems the island county is facing.

The anti-gambling activists’ call came ahead of the nation’s first referendum on the establishment of casinos, which will be held in Penghu on Saturday.

The referendum will pose the question: “Should Penghu establish international resorts, along with casinos?”

The Referendum Act (公投法) stipulates that two thresholds need to be reached for a referendum to be valid.

First, more than 50 percent of eligible voters need to cast a referendum ballot, and second, of the valid votes, 50 percent of the voters need to respond in the affirmative for the referendum to be passed.

However, unlike the previous referendums held in Taiwan in recnt years, the casino referendum will be considered valid if more than half of the valid votes are in the affirmative.

The issue of legalizing gambling on outlying islands has been debated on and off for more than a decade, since long before the legislature approved related legislation on Jan. 12.

The activists said they are concerned about the possible impact on students’ values, the survival of local businesses, social ­stability and the environment if casinos are built on the islands, while those who support the establishment have trumpeted the potential economic benefits casinos would bring.

Yen Tz-chieh (顏子傑), a graduate student of political science, said the group of young people was trying to mobilize family and friends through MSN Messenger, Plurk and e-mail.

About 200 young people from Penghu planned to return to cast a negative vote in the referendum, Yen said.

China bans travel to Tibet for foreigners until Oct. 8
　

SUSPENDED: In efforts to ensure that nothing disturbs the Oct. 1 national celebrations, Tibet will be closed to foreigners. No ban has been announced for Xinjiang

AFP , BEIJING
Wednesday, Sep 23, 2009, Page 5

China has barred foreigners from traveling to Tibet until after sensitive Oct. 1 celebrations marking the 60th birthday of communist China, a government tourism office and travel agents said yesterday.

A woman official at the official Lhasa Tourism Bureau in the regional capital said the ban would officially go into effect yesterday.

“Passes for foreign travelers to enter Tibet will be suspended from Sept. 24 to Oct. 8. That’s according to a notice from the Tibet Tourism Bureau,” said the woman, who refused to give her name.

She said the notice contained no further information and no reason for the measure.

Officials with the regional government and Tibet Tourism Bureau refused to comment.

However, travel agents said the ban was already in place.

“It started from Monday, according to the notice from the Tibet Tourism Bureau. Passes for foreign travelers are suspended until Oct. 8,” said a woman staff member at the Tibet Youth Travel Service.

Staff at two other major travel agencies also confirmed the ban.

The move is the latest sign of intense official concern over security ahead of National Day, which will mark 60 years since Mao Zedong (毛澤東) proclaimed the founding of the People’s Republic of China at Tiananmen Square in Beijing.

The government already has sharply ramped up security in the capital, putting thousands of extra police on the streets ahead of the festivities, which will include a military parade, fireworks and mass performances at the square.

State media reported on Monday that outgoing flights would be halted at Beijing’s airport during the parade, and retailers have said they have been banned from selling kitchen knives after two recent stabbings near the square.

Foreign tourists must obtain special permission from the Chinese government to enter Tibet, the remote Himalayan region where resentment against Chinese control has seethed for decades.

China has banned foreign tourists from visiting Tibet before, including after deadly anti-­Chinese riots that erupted in Lhasa and across the Tibetan plateau in March last year, triggering a massive Chinese security clampdown.

Beijing also barred foreigners in March of this year during the tense 50th anniversary of a failed 1959 uprising against China that sent the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan spiritual leader, into exile.

The bans and tight security in Tibet since last year’s unrest have devastated the picturesque Buddhist region’s tourism industry, state media said.

Reports have said visitor arrivals dropped to 2.2 million last year, compared with four million the year before.

Chinese authorities are currently grappling with seething ethnic unrest in the restive western region of Xinjiang, including a wave of mysterious syringe attacks.

Beijing has blamed Uighurs for the attacks.

Staff at several major state-run travel agents handling Xinjiang tours said yesterday they had so far received no notice of any ban on foreign tourists to the region.

Unreliable comments on the Chen conviction
　

By Michael Danielsen
Wednesday, Sep 23, 2009, Page 8

It is amazing how a historian like Sin-ming Shaw (邵新民) can display such massive ignorance about Taiwan in such a short article (“Chen’s fate should act as a lesson,” Sept. 17, page 8). His comments on the trial of former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) reveal his incompetence and the worst prejudice toward Taiwan.

This is unfortunate for him, and for the readers whom he misinformed.

Shaw starts out by stating incorrectly that Chen received life imprisonment for corruption, when in fact he received a life sentence for the embezzlement of presidential funds. The rules guiding these funds are vague, a situation recognized by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), which is now proposing to decriminalize the use of similar funds at lower political levels.

CRITICISM

The entire trial has received massive international criticism. But by failing to mention any of it, Shaw gives the impression that Taiwan has a perfect legal system. It is easy to list problems with the trial, from judges being replaced under unusual circumstances to details of the investigation being leaked to partisan media outlets to the state eavesdropping on Chen in custody.

Shaw also expresses an aversion toward identity politics. Chen stood for a clear policy on identity — one that focused on Taiwan. This policy is supported by the vast majority of Taiwanese. More than 50 percent of the population consider themselves to be unambiguously Taiwanese, while only 5 percent to 6 percent think of themselves as Chinese.

Chen’s policy was not about eliminating Chinese culture, as Shaw states, but simply reflected the reality in his country. Taiwanese have clearly become more “Taiwanese.”

This tendency became obvious in the process of democratization following an era of dictatorship that imposed Chinese culture on Taiwan. It is worth noting that an increase in Taiwanese identity was already apparent four years before Chen became president.

Shaw inexcusably compares Chen’s policies to China’s Cultural Revolution and claims that he performed a “vicious” campaign against Mainlanders.

Chen in fact used the appeasing expression huaren (華人) to describe Taiwanese, which embraces all as having Chinese ethnicity, and thus all Taiwanese, regardless of background.

The late authoritarian president Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國) is glorified in Shaw’s article as the creator of Taiwan’s democracy, which offensively conceals opposition to the dictatorship by Taiwanese, as well as their role in the fall of the party-state and democratic reforms.

RECORD HIGH

On economic matters, Shaw accuses Chen of mismanagement. Yet six years into Chen’s presidency, Taiwanese investment in China reached a record high, while Taiwan experienced a 230 percent increase in foreign investment.

In addition, the government invested in the nation’s knowledge economy and the expansion of universities. Comparing China’s booming economy with Taiwan’s more mature economy is like comparing apples and oranges.

Shaw believes that Chen did not defend Taiwan. However, Chen did defend Taiwan in various ways, including sending signals to China that resemble President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) policies.

The list of Shaw’s errors and manipulations is longer than this. It is surprising that such an educated person does not know better and that he would write comments that expose him as unreliable.

Michael Danielsen is the chairman of Taiwan Corner.